hat and belt

Distinctions

The setting: the regular kohen wears four garments, pants, a belt, a hat and a tunic; the kohen gadol wears four more, a breastplate, an apron, a robe and a head-plate (Mishnah Yoma 7:5). Some explain that the kohen gadol's clothes differ from the regular kohen's in that they do not wear the same type of hat, and by some opinions not the same type of belt either.

migbaas (מגבעת)

Root ג-ב-ע. The Meiri ties migbaas to kova (roots ג-ב-ע and כ-ב-ע) because the ordinary kohen's hat is a plain one. The Vilna Gaon: a migbaas comes pre-sewn, ready to put on. Abarbanel connects the word to givah, a hill, because the hat carried two hill-like humps on top and tied under the chin. Rambam has the ordinary kohen's hat actually covering the head.

mitznefes (מצנפת)

Root צ-נ-ף. The Meiri: an especially long cloth that the kohen gadol winds (tzonef) around his head, so the name records the wrapping and not the shape. The Vilna Gaon says the same, against the pre-sewn migbaas. Others hold both were wrapped, and the mitznefes is distinguished by reaching down to the beard. Rambam has it encircling the perimeter of the head without covering it. Tosafos HaRosh (Yoma 71b) links mitznefes to tznif, which alludes to the honor of wearing a royal diadem.

Against all of these, Rashi and Ramban maintain that migbaas and mitznefes were both the same type of hat and are simply synonyms. Here the column brings Josephus, who writes that the regular kohen wore a "Masnaemphthes," a Greekized mitznefes, describing it as a cap that does not come to a point and does not encircle the whole head, a crown-like bonnet covering most of the head but not all of it. On that view, the column suggests, one may argue that even if migbaas and mitznefes name the same hat they recall different elements of it: migbaas denotes the hat-like form of the thing, while mitznefes focuses on the honor that wearing it brings, in line with Tosafos HaRosh on tznif.

kova (כובע)

Root כ-ב-ע. The everyday word for a hat in Modern Hebrew, but in Tanach it appears six times and always as part of a warrior's kit (Shmuel I 17:5, Yeshayahu 59:17, Yirmiyahu 46:4, Yechezkel 27:10 and 38:5, Divrei HaYamim II 26:14), so that it possibly should not be rendered "hat" at all but "hard hat" or even "helmet."

avnet (אבנט)

Malbim: a belt worn for ritual purposes, which is why it is the belt of the kohanim. It is the only one of the three belt-words the Torah uses for the priestly garments.

chagor / chagorah (חגור, חגורה)

Root ח-ג-ר. Malbim: the general term, anything that goes around the circumference of the body, whether at the torso, the heart, the waist or the feet. Masculine chagor, feminine chagorah; the gender does not change the sense.

eizor (אזור)

Root א-ז-ר. Malbim: specifically the belt at the waist, and one drawn tight. Because it is fastened tightly, girding an eizor becomes a figure for performing a feat of strength, and in Tanach it is worn only by mighty men, never by women or children. In post-Biblical writings sinar is a different item again, a special belt Ezra instituted that women should wear, something like a chastity belt.

Rendering guidance

• Do not let English "hat" absorb all three head words. Kova in a pasuk is helmet; migbaas is headdress or cap; mitznefes is turban.
• Where the two priestly hats stand in one verse or one halachic list (Shemos 28:4 and 28:40, Mishnah Yoma 7:5), keep two distinct English words even if you follow Rashi and Ramban that the object is the same, since the passage is distinguishing the kohen gadol from the ordinary kohen.
• "Belt" will happily swallow avnet, chagor and eizor. Reserve sash for avnet in a Mikdash context, belt for chagor, and girdle for eizor, especially where the verse is using eizor for strength; there "girded" carries the metaphor and "belted" does not.
• Where a source treats migbaas and mitznefes as one hat under two names, the useful line is the column's own: migbaas names the shape, mitznefes names the honor (the honor half rests on Tosafos HaRosh).

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Hats and Belts," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 25 March 2017 / 27 Adar II 5777: raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/7195-hats-and-belts.md. Primary loci: Mishnah Yoma 7:5; Yoma 71b with Tosafos HaRosh; Shemos 28:4, 28:40; Shmuel I 17:5, Yeshayahu 59:17, Yirmiyahu 46:4, Yechezkel 27:10 and 38:5, Divrei HaYamim II 26:14 for kova; Josephus on the shape of the priestly cap, as the article cites him.